The Tower

The weekend is over and I have to officially work in London. Boo..... This morning, Sophia and I had breakfast on nearby Bermondsey Street and walked Gus around. I had a traditional breakfast with blood sausage and baked beans, pictured below:



I then called for an Uber taxi to bring me to the Novotel Tower Bridge, just across the river. After checking in and getting settled as I'll be here for three nights, I did a bit of work. This was also after I set off the alarms in my room! They gave me a handicap access room, so there were cords everywhere to pull in case of emergency. My curiosity got the best of me and next thing I know, alarms are going off, security is calling me, and there was a man at my door. At least I know they work!

Afterwards, I headed to the Tower of London. I had been here years ago, but as my company gets free tickets and practically every colleague said I should go, I decided to procure a ticket from our local office. Walking around this old palace with so much history was fun, but it was really crowded. The prized exhibition is the Crown Jewels where you can't take photos. Known for being a mint, storehouse, and a prison, many were executed and buried here including two of Henry VIII's wives and Thomas More. I must have read and seen every version of "A Man for All Seasons" in ninth grade English! Here are a few photos of the experiences including a raven as there has to be six on site or the monarchy will crumble!:

Afterwards, I explored the city: walked by the Monument, the Royal Exchange, Bank of England, and Leadenhall Market. Here are the pictures:

Here's a picture of the Lloyd's of London building, the iconic insurance exchange in this modern retro building. I could see brokers walking in and out with huge files and submissions - very old-school! So glad the underwriters come to us in the US!

I wandered some more and then met a colleague and our client for dinner. We walked across Tower Bridge and ate on Battery Wharf. I had oysters and fish and chips. I had also picked up macarons at Ladurée earlier as I knew my client loves sweets. So we enjoyed them before our walk back across the bridge. A photo of our walk and the bridge at sunset:

We pondered having drinks on the rooftop of the hotel, but decided on an early night before two days of back-to-back meetings!